BILL NUMBER: AB 1983 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Evans
FEBRUARY 14, 2008
An act to add Section 4640.4 to the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to developmental services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1983, as introduced, Evans. Developmental services: consumer
abuse registry.
Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services
Act, grants persons with developmental disabilities the right to
receive treatment and services to meet their needs, regardless of age
or degree of handicap, at each stage of life. Existing law requires
that the state pay for these services through contracts with various
private nonprofit corporations for the operation of regional centers
for the developmentally disabled, and requires regional centers to
develop an individual program plan (IPP) for each consumer that sets
forth the treatment and services to be provided for the consumer.
This bill would require the State Department of Developmental
Services to establish a mechanism to investigate and substantiate
reports of consumer abuse by providers. The bill would require
regional centers and community care facilities to report evidence of
consumer abuse to the department. The bill would require the
department to establish a registry of providers or others against
whom one or more reports of abuse of a consumer have been
substantiated, and to make the registry available, pursuant to a
release protocol established by the department in consultation with
program stakeholders, to specified persons. The bill would require
providers to access the registry before hiring an employee and would
be prohibited from hiring or contracting with employees who were
included in the registry. It would also require the department to
coordinate with the State Department of Public Health to share
information about health care providers, and would require the
department to adopt regulations to implement the bill's provisions by
July 1, 2009.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 4640.4 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
4640.4. (a) Every regional center and every community care
facility shall report any evidence of abuse by a provider of services
of a consumer to the department.
(b) The department shall establish a mechanism to investigate and
substantiate the report of abuse.
(c) The department shall establish a registry of providers or
other persons against whom one or more reports of abuse of a consumer
have been substantiated pursuant to this section. The registry shall
not contain confidential consumer information. The department shall
adopt a protocol to do all of the following:
(1) Determine whether a reported incident of abuse is
substantiated for the purposes of adding a person to the registry.
(2) Provide a procedure for the timely appeal of a decision to add
a person to the registry. The procedure shall include the addition
of a person to a "pending appeal" category for no longer than a
specified period of time.
(3) Enable a person listed on the registry to petition for
immediate removal from the registry.
(4) Release the registry information to individuals enumerated in
subdivision (d).
(5) Release information on ongoing investigations to the parties
listed in subdivision (d).
(6) Update the registry content on a regular basis.
(d) In developing the protocols required under subdivision (c),
the department shall consult with program stakeholders, including,
but not limited to, representatives from regional centers, providers
of services to persons with developmental disabilities, state and
local law enforcement agencies, district attorneys, representatives
of county child protective services and adult protective services
agencies, the Office of the Attorney General, the state long-term
care ombudsperson, Protection and Advocacy, Inc. and other advocates
for persons with disabilities, the REACH Coalition, consumers,
families of persons with developmental disabilities, licensing
agencies, the State Department of Developmental Services, the State
Department of Social Services, the California Department of Aging,
the State Department of Mental Health, and civil rights
organizations.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, neither
the department nor any person or entity who relies on the registry,
shall incur any liability for their participation in developing the
registry or for using or relying on information contained in the
registry.
(f) Before a provider hires or contracts with an employee, the
provider shall access the registry to determine whether the employee
is included in the registry. A provider shall not hire or contract
for services with a person included in the registry. This subdivision
shall not apply to consumers and families hiring caregivers.
(g) The department shall adopt regulations to implement this
section by July 1, 2009. These regulations shall include penalties
for the hiring by providers of persons on the registry in violation
of the prohibition contained in subdivision (f).
(h) The department shall coordinate with the State Department of
Public Health to share information about health care providers, or
other persons providing services to consumers, against whom one or
more reports of abuse of a consumer have been substantiated for
inclusion in the registry in accordance with the protocols developed
pursuant to subdivision (c).
(i) This section shall not be interpreted to alter or amend any
existing child, elder, or dependent adult abuse or neglect reporting
requirement, including, but not limited to, Section 1418.91 of the
Health and Safety Code, Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 11164)
of Chapter 2 of Title 1 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, or Article 3
(commencing with Section 15630) of Chapter 11 of Part 3 of Division
9.
(j) For the purposes of this section, "abuse" means either of the
following:
(1) Physical abuse, neglect, financial abuse, abandonment,
isolation, abduction, or other treatment with resulting physical harm
or pain or mental suffering.
(2) The deprivation by a care custodian of goods or services that
are necessary to avoid physical harm or mental suffering, as those
terms are defined in the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil
Protection Act (Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 15600) of Part 3
of Division 9).
(k) For the purposes of this section, "provider" means any of the
following:
(1) An intermediate care facility for people who are mentally
retarded.
(2) A rehabilitation facility.
(3) A heath facility.
(4) A home health agency.
(5) A homemaker agency.
(6) A home for the aged or disabled.
(7) A group home.
(8) An adult foster care home.
(9) A case management facility that provides services to elderly
people or people with developmental disabilities.
(10) A corporate guardian.
(11) A private residence that provides personal care, adult
residential care, or natural and surrogate family services to persons
with developmental disabilities.
(12) An adult day care center.
(13) A boarding home.
(14) An adult residential care home.
(15) A residential service or habilitation service authorized to
be reimbursed by Medicaid.
(16) Any licensed or Medicaid-certified entity or any program
funded by the aging and long-term services department that provides
respite, companion, or personal care services.
(17) Programs funded by the children, youth, and families
department that provide homemaker or adult day care services.
(18) Any other individual, agency, or organization that provides
respite care or delivers home- and community-based services to adults
or children with developmental or physical disabilities or to the
elderly, but excluding managed care organizations, unless the
employees of the managed care organization provide respite care or
deliver home- and community-based services to adults or children with
developmental or physical disabilities or to the elderly.
(l) For the purposes of this section, "substantiated report" means
a report that is determined by the department to be abuse, based
upon evidence that makes it more likely than not that abuse, as
defined in this section, occurred.